BROADCAST #43
AIR DATE: 10-23-07

Hello Fanatics. I am sitting in the dressing room here in wonderful Lawrence KS. It’s Sunday evening on the 21st. I am finishing up the notes for the broadcast you heard tonight. Earlier this morning, I got this e-mail from multiple sources and no doubt by now, so have many of you:

October 21st, 2007
PAUL FOX OF THE RUTS DIES AGED 56

Legendary guitarist, Paul Fox, died at home in Uxbridge at 3AM this morning.

Over the years Paul has performed and recorded with many of the worlds greatest musicians but he will mainly be remembered for his revolutionary punk/dub reggae fusion guitar playing with influential punk band The Ruts.

Paul had been in semi retirement for several years but went back out on the road again in 2006 playing the Ruts music with Foxys Ruts which featured his son Lawrence Fox on drums. The band were well received, both in the UK and Europe.

Following his diagnosis with cancer at the end of May 2007 a benefit gig was organised featuring many of the musicians that Paul had worked with or alongside over the years. There was no doubt about the high esteem in which Paul was held by his fellow musicians as the line up read like a who’s who of the UK punk scene with performances by The Damned, Misty in Roots, the UK Subs, Tom Robinson, John Otway, Splodge, TV Smith and many more. For the first time in 27 years the surviving members of the Ruts took to the stage together with Henry Rollins standing in for the late Malcolm Owen who died of a drug overdose in 1980.

The night was a fitting tribute to one of our much under rated and unsung guitar heros.

Paul leaves behind his sons Lawrence and William and his wife, Sharon.
He will be dearly missed.

So, that’s that. I know many of you are Ruts Fanatics so there was no way I couldn’t tell you about it and as well, we have listened to so many of their songs. When I get back to live shows in November, I will bring in some more Ruts stuff for us to check out.

Tonight’s show is a great one. I hope you’re ready for a whole lot of UK Subs because there’s a lot coming your way. I had to do it! Anyway, play some Ruts music if you have some and remember the great Paul Fox and Malcolm Owen. Thanks for listening and even though the news is hard to take, STAY FANATIC!!! --Henry

For you Fanatics who can’t live without hearing this show again or if the original broadcast time is too hard on your sleep cycle here’s the re-broadcast schedule: USA: Fridays: 0200 – 0400 hrs. PST / UK: Fridays: 1000 hrs. – 1200 hrs. / Continental Europe: Fridays 1100 hrs. – 1300 hrs. / Australia: Fridays 2100 hrs. – 2300 hrs.

E-Mail address for me: Henryontheradio@aol.com

If you have listened to this show more than a few times, there’s a good chance you have heard songs by The UK Subs. I first heard the band many years ago when Ian found a compilation album that had their song I Live In A Car. We soon found their first album Another Kind Of Blues and their singles and that was it, we were fans for life. The band made things fun for collector types by putting out their records in limited colored vinyl and also released their albums with the titles in alphabetical order. All that was well and good but at the end of the day it’s the music that makes it matter and that’s where the Subs really nailed it down. Nicky Garratt is one of the best guitarists of the Punk Rock heap. From his tone to the way he attacks a song, it’s pure kill. The UK Subs formed in England in the 1970’s at the beginning of the UK Punk Rock explosion. Vocalist Charlie Harper had already been in bands before, had a shifting line-up but eventually when in the fall of 1977 Nicky Garratt joined, the band started firming up. By early 1978, Paul Slack had joined on bass and by spring of that year, Pete Davies had joined on as the drummer and that became the classic line-up. How cool is this, their first studio recordings were Peel Sessions. Peel was a Subs fan of course. In summer 1978 the band recorded their first single with I Live In A Car, C.I.D and B.1.C. In the following summer they recorded the Another Kind Of Blues album that we all picked up and loved. This line-up recorded the first three albums, Another Kind Of Blues, Brand New Age and the live Crash Course album. After this, the line-up changed in the summer of 1980 and so did the sound. Charlie and Nicky became the solid members and a new rhythm section was brought in: Steve Roberts on drums and Alvin Gibbs on bass. This line-up plunged right in and soon. A single with Party In Paris and Fall Of The Empire and the Diminished Responsibility album were in the bins. I distinctly remember the first time I heard this album. I was in Ian’s mother’s place and we were in his little brother’s basement room and we put this on in all its red vinyl glory. It was very different than the other UK Subs albums that’s for sure. Diminished had a looser feel to it and it occurred to me that perhaps the fact that the rhythm section was younger than Nicky and Charlie had an effect on them, like it kicked them in the ass or something. It’s not like the older records needed anything but there was a more of a let’s break shit attitude on this album that I really liked. Songs like Too Tired and So What were nothing like what they had done before. The press gave the album a mixed reception and one publication relegated the album to a one-square-inch typically snarky UK review: “Diminished Responsibility, eh? So that’s their excuse for dishing up the time honoured coloured vinyl and punk clichés. Just Another Jungle, New Order and So What seem to imply that if you can’t be part of the solution then it takes not effort at all to just reel off a list of the problems. Even the guiding hand of former Gary Glitter producer Mike Leander can’t rescue this miserable effort.” Friendly! I reckon this is the line-up I saw when we played with them in December 1981 in Leeds UK. It was this line-up that released some of my favorite Subs songs of all time: Keep On Running (Til You Burn), Perfect Girl and the single version of Ice Age. I read that this version was a demo the band did in preparation for their 5th album, Endangered Species. The label that had released almost all their previous songs, GEM went bust. The band signed to NEMS and released Endangered and the Countdown single. This was the last Subs album that I paid close attention to. While not a bad album by any stretch, it seemed unfocused and poorly recorded. The band played for the rest of 1981, the show in Leeds that I saw was one of the last ones this line-up did before Steve Roberts left. By the end of 1982 the line-up had changed and Nicky had left the band. Nicky and Charlie got back together again in the 90’s and have been doing shows with Alvin on bass and different drummers. I checked out some of the non-Garratt albums like Flood Of Lies and I couldn’t really get to them although I tried. I have dissected this music for years and have come to the conclusion that what really made the band great was a combination of things but the main factors were the rhythm section of Slack and Davies really set up Nicky so he could do that syncopated thing of his that you hear on the recordings of that era. I remember many years ago, Ian pointed that out to me. He keeps in touch with Nicky fairly often. I have written to him over the years. But anyway, I think it was that rhythm combo that allowed Garratt to dig in and with the new rhythm section of Gibbs and Roberts, the band lost a lot of its attack. Perhaps their peak recordings are to be found on the Brand New Age album and the She’s Not There EP, which to me is sheer brilliance. You have heard the song Same Thing from that EP played on this show more than once. Over the years, I have run into Charlie Harper in London and it’s always cool to see him and I am still listening to these albums and singles with great interest. I hope you enjoyed this brief spotlight on the band. Below is what you heard:

Tomorrow's Girls: Peel session recorded 05-23-78 and broadcast 05-31-78.

I.O.D.: Peel Session recorded 06-19-79 and broadcast 06-28-79.

C.I.D.: From the 1st single released 09-22-78. This one came out in a few different colors of vinyl on City Records and then was re-released on Pinnacle in 1979.

World War / T.V. Blues / Disease: From the Another Kind Of Blues released in 1979. This one came out on blue vinyl in the UK only. Everywhere else it was on black vinyl. The Subs site lists the following countries as all the territories the album was pressed in: UK, Spain, Australia, Germany, Canada and Greece. I have seen all of those and have also seen a pressing they don’t list from New Zealand. Someone have a word. I have also seen a black vinyl / white label test pressing of the album out of the UK.

Same Thing: From the She’s Not There EP released in November of 1979. Initially pressed in green vinyl and then in black. I have seen green and black vinyl A-label promos as well as an acetate and a black vinyl / white label test pressing.

Brand New Age / Rat Race / Emotional Blackmail / Bomb Factory: From the Brand New Age album released in 1980. What an album. In the UK, this one was pressed on clear vinyl initially and then black. All other territories pressed in black as well. The site lists the following territories the album was pressed in: UK, USA, Japan, Germany, Portugal and New Zealand. I have seen all those and one pressed in France. Come on, Subs site! I have never seen a US pressing of this album. There’s also a black vinyl / white label test pressing out of the UK of this one.

Live In A Car: From the live album Crash Course released in 1980. Pressed on purple vinyl in the UK and then black. All other territories pressed in black. The Subs site lists the following territories pressing this album: UK, Germany and Holland. I have seen all three and have not seen any pressings from other territories.

You Don't Belong / Confrontation Street / Too Tired: From the Diminished Responsibility released in 1981. In the UK this album was pressed up in clear red vinyl and then on black. All other territories pressed in black as well. The Subs site lists the territories Diminished was pressed in as follows: UK, Spain, Greece, Germany and France. I have never seen a pressing from Greece of this album and have only seen the Portuguese pressing once. There’s also a black vinyl / white label test pressing out of the UK of this one.

Ice Age: From a single released in 1981. From the black vinyl 4-track EP featuring Keep On Running (Til You Burn), Perfect Girl and Party In Paris sung in French, previously released only as a one-sided 7” pressing for fan club members in a limited edition of 500. You don’t see that one around too often.

Sensitive Boys / Lie Down and Die: From the Endangered Species released in 1982, black vinyl. The Subs site lists the following territories the album was released in: UK, Germany, Holland and Sweden. I have a pressing from Germany.

OK, so that was a whole lotta UK Subs in a short amount of time. I do hope you enjoyed that. Moving on!

Television - Ain't That Nothin’: This track is from the Adventure album, the follow-up to the iconic Marquee Moon album. Answering to MM would be a fairly daunting task if you ask me. I think it’s a great album and sounds like what Verlaine was heading towards on his next two releases which were the start of his very solid career as a solo artist. If you liked MM and have never heard Adventure, you will perhaps be surprised at how much you like it. At one point, I was working on an album in England and one of the people in the flat I was living in was playing this album all the time and it really grew on me and threw me right into Verlaine’s self-titled debut the follow up to that one, Dreamtime. Both of those are excellent.

Swell Maps - Secret Island: From the International Rescue album. What a cool band the Maps were. The bands who claim to have been influenced by them are nowhere near as good, funny how that worked out but anyway, the Swell Maps were an unclassifiable unit and all their records are worth checking out. Two of the members, the brothers Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks both died young, the older Sudden most recently. Both were prolific in their post Maps output. Nikki doing a ton of solo albums and Epic playing with Crime And The City Solution and These Immortal Souls, both bands had the amazing Rowland S. Howard on guitar. Nikki and Rowland did some great work together as well. My favorite Maps song, Steven Does, is the one song of theirs that I can’t seem to find on CD. I put it on CDR many moons ago and we listened to it in 2004 I believe. I should bring that one in for an encore. Great how this song gives way to such a great jam at the end of the track making the most of that cool ascending riff. Great band.

The Mae-Shi - Remarkably Dirty Animals: from Sur La Mer which is a 5 Rue Christine compilation CD. The track can be found on a split release the band did with Rapider Than Horsepower called Don’t Ignore The Potential. So far, I like both bands although I don’t know much about them. I am doing some learning up on them in an effort to expand my musical knowledge. I have heard more Mae Shi stuff so far and there’s not a song I don’t like, very cool band.

The Sword – Ebethron: From the Age Of Winters album. They made this one just for me. When I heard this album I started laughing out loud thinking of how I was going to bludgeon you Fanatics with this one. Crushing Metal from Austin Texas. As far as I know, there’s only this one album. I know there’s a single out but as far as other albums or compilations cuts, I don’t know of any. I also can’t find a great deal of information on the band as their site doesn’t seem to be all that forthcoming on the information front. I got into this band, it’s lame but all the same . . . . I heard of this band by checking out Early Man on Amazon.com and The Sword album popped up on the “people who liked Early Man liked . . . “ thing and so I listened to a few songs and that was that. I guess it doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you do.

The Fall - Hotel Bloedel: From one of my favorite Fall albums, Perverted By Language, released in December of 1983. There are two different mixes of this album. The 2005 re-issue has the original mix and at least one of the re-mixed tracks. The 1998 Castle release of this album has the re-mix in total. I have both and have not really sat down and listened closely enough to be able to tell the difference nor have I read anything that discusses why MES decided to re-mix the record. You know, the answer could very well be on this site: http://www.visi.com/fall/, and I have not delved deeply enough find it.

Texas Alexander - Blue Devil Blues: From the Complete Recorded Works Vol. 2 CD on the mighty Document label. If you’re a fan of Robert Johnson, you might want to check out Mr. Alexander. You’ll find the feel of his playing and a lot of his phrasing to be similar in only good ways. He had a cousin, some guy named Lightnin’ Hopkins, that’s pretty cool, don’t you think? Alexander played with Blind Lemon Jefferson, that’s also pretty cool seeing that Jefferson was an early influence on Lightnin’. In classic Blues fashion, Alexander murdered his wife in 1939 and spent 1940 to 1945 in prison. He got out and continued to record and play out until 1954 when he died of syphilis.

Lou Reed – Dirt: From the 1978 Street Hassle album. I know it’s strange and sad but at this point, I can’t think of Lou Reed’s albums and not think of Robert Christgau and what a douche bag he is. The Dean of Rock Critics as he is hailed, or hails himself as the case may be, seems to have at least two obsessions: himself and Lou Reed. I am sure there’s some female musicians he has fantasies about but he also must know that the only way for music critics to get laid is to lie about what they do for a living, pay, wed or resort to some brutal act. Now when it comes to brutality, goodness, just try and get through one of Christgau’s reviews of a record. The pain! Anyway, he doesn’t like this album. Like we care. Hell, you Fanatics might not like it either. I do. I do very much. Byron Coley gave me this album many years ago. I was living at SST and didn’t have many records. I made a tape of this one and listened to it all the time. I think this song is so cool.

Lee Scratch Perry - Don't Blame The Baldhead: From the Respect To Studio One 2CD set. I got this a long time ago. I couldn’t find it for a long time and it recently resurfaced at the office where it had been hiding from me in a box with some ancient office supplies. I am happy to see it again. I am sure most if not all of the tracks on this thing are on the many Perry comp. CDs out there. The phrasing Perry’s using on this track is so great, I like it when he’s in the up-tempo mode, he’s so at home inside the music, he’s almost an instrument himself. I’ve got a handful of Perry stuff, there’s a lot of it out there. So far, it’s all been great but I don’t know if I will ever get my foot in the door of his total output, it’s as if all the man has done with his life is record, produce and release, he’s one of those great forces.

The Razors – Enemy: The single this track is taken from was one of those two dollar singles they couldn’t give away when it sat unloved in the bins at the record stores back when I was living in DC. Ian and I picked up on this one quickly and it became a favorite. It’s one of my favorite October listens. I don’t know much about the band, they were from Germany. The other song on the single Christchild is a great one as well. Check out the backing vocal on this song and the way it works against the lead, so great. I wonder if they came into the studio with that or if they came up with that later on. I have never seen any Razors stuff on CD and like I said, I don’t know much about them as I can’t find any info out there. They made a couple of singles and later on, I think after the band had broken up, the single tracks were gathered with some live tracks and the Banned Punx 12” was released. You see all this stuff on EBay now and then but not too often. What I have read online, people don’t seem to give their music much attention. Well, now, we’ll take care of that!

Metalux & John Wiese - Exoteric Three: From the Exoteric CD. Isn’t this a room clearing treat?!! 111 seconds of purity. I just got one of Wiese’s solo efforts called Soft Punk, which I have checked out some of and it’s great. I will get some of that on our show as soon as I get off the road and get back to some live shows in November. At this point, I don’t know much about either entity but I’m a learnin’. If you try and check out a lot of music, you at some point come to the conclusion that you have a lot catching up to do. It’s like when someone asks you if you have read a certain book, at least in my case, it’s rare that I have. There is so much great music out there, you could spend your life playing catch up. Let’s go!

100 Flowers – Sensible Virgin: From the recently back in print Keats Rides A Harley compilation album and it can also be found on the not as easy to find Life Is Ugly So Why Not Kill Yourself comp. As you probably know, in a previous incarnation, 100 Flowers was called The Urinals. I never got to see them but I got a chance to see 100 Flowers play with the Minutemen and that was a great time. The Minutemen covered The Urinals’ song Ack Ack Ack Ack to great effect. Urinals / 100 Flowers were one of the bands who defined DIY back in the beginnings of Independent Music in America. You might want to check out The Urinals’ Negative Capability CD that has all their stuff, including their impossible to find singles.